Whispering Corridors
by blackandblood
Summary: After a chain of deaths occur in the high school, Takuya and the others attempt to figure out the cause of the sudden incidents. Have the students been dying from mere suicides? Or something else that is much more sinister and disturbing? Takumi
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this is the first half of my formerly one-shot now two-shot urban legend fic. Both chapters will be rather long, but I still hope you guys like the story anyway. And I 'borrowed' the title of my story from a Japanese horror movie! Muahahahahahaha! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon and I borrowed the title because it sounded interesting :)**

**Whispering Corridors**

**Chapter 1**

A large group of students watched as the gurney was rolled out of the girls' bathroom, the person lying on it covered in a sheet. The sheet was soaked crimson, indicating a large amount of blood on the body. Whispers amongst students could be heard, and the paramedics gravely wheeled the gurney down the corridor. Looks of disgust of horror were present on everyone's face, and a few drops of blood trickled to the white floor as the corpse was sent down the hallway.

"Nothing to see here! Come on, get to class," a teacher said sternly, trying to break up the spectacle that had caused the students to gather in the hallway. "Get to class now before I start handing out detentions."

As the students began to disperse, seventeen year-old Takuya Kanbara looked as his three friends. "This is the fourth person within eight days."

Kouji Minamoto, Takuya's best friend, sighed and shook his head. "And they all took place in the girls' bathroom. Strikes you as kind of odd, doesn't it?"

Kouichi Kimura, Kouji's brother, finally tore his gaze away from the bloody sheet on the corpse. "Why hasn't there been an investigation already? Or better yet, wouldn't the school have been closed temporarily? You would think that they would shut down this building to find whoever's responsible."

"But the first two deaths were deemed as suicides," Zoe Orimoto said. "The police looked into each of the accidents, but were unable to find any evidence suggesting foul play."

"I'm not sure if I buy it though," Takuya muttered as he and the other three made their way to their next class, which was only a study period. "I know what they said about the evidence, but I'm still kind of suspicious. Yukari Anno was the first girl who was found dead, and it seems that a chain of deaths keeps taking place in the same location."

The deaths of students had began on Tuedsay of the previous week, the first victim being found shortly before the end of the school day. Seventeen year-old Yukari Anno had been discovered on the floor of the girls' bathroom, her throat slit open. She had already been dead by the time her body was found, and bloody scalpel lay a few feet away from her. The only fingerprints on it belonged to Yukari herself, indicating that she had done the deed herself.

"Takuya, they never found any suspects or fingerprints belonging to anyone other than Yukari's," Kouichi pointed out.

The brunette picked a piece of fuzz off the shirt of his school uniform. "But why would a girl just randomly slit her own throat open? I didn't know Yukari that well, but from what I heard, she was getting good grades, got along with her parents, and didn't seem to have any problems going on."

Takuya's uniform, as well as the other guys', consisted of black pants, a black shirt with a standing collar, and black shoes. Gold trimming and a school patch on the left breast of the shirt accented the uniform. Zoe and the other girls wore white collared shirts, short form-fitting black skirts, white thigh-highs, and black flats. Over their shirts they had on light yellow blazers with gold accents on the collar and a belt to keep it closed along with its gold buttons. Girls also wore black ties tucked under their blazers, which had a gold school symbol on them.

"Just because her problems weren't obvious, it doesn't mean that she didn't have any," Kouji pointed out.

Zoe sighed, tucking a strand of blond hair behind her ear. "Well, what about Kayako Hayashida?"

The second victim, sixteen year-old Kayako Hayashida had been found only two days after the first death, on Thursday. Like Yukari, her corpse had been found in the girls' bathroom. Yet unlike the other girl, Kayako hadn't died in the same manner. Instead, she had been found hanging from the ceiling by a rope fastened around her neck. The school was rather old, consisting of high ceilings that would've made it plausible for such a death. By the time Kayako had been found, her skin had turned blue from lack of oxygen, and a stool was toppled over nearby. Her death had been ruled as a suicide as well, since there had been no evidence to prove otherwise.

"It's obvious that she hanged herself," Kouji stated. "There was a stool there and everything. She threw one end of the rope over the rafters and secured then. Then she stood on the stool, tied the other end into a noose, put it around her neck, and let the fucking stool fall over."

"Kayako was in my Calculus class," Zoe said quietly as they approached the library. "She didn't seem to be acting out of the ordinary by any means the last time I saw her."

Takuya shook his head in disbelief. "Two girls just suddenly go and kill themselves...and in the same place for that matter. After Kayako was found dead, the school installed a security camera in the girls' room. The camera doesn't show what's going on inside the stalls, but shows the rest of the bathroom. It's fucking insane."

"You wanna know what's even more insane? The fact that Asuka Shimizu supposedly went into the bathroom two days ago and never came out." Kouichi ran a hand through his black hair.

After the death on Thursday, Friday had gone by without any incident. Yet after the weekend had rolled by and Monday had come along, a third girl had been reported missing. Seventeen year-old Asuka Shimizu had excused herself from one of her classes to use the restroom. She had been seen going into the girls' bathroom, but never returned.

Kouji raised an eyebrow. "How the fuck is that possible? Of course she had to have come out."

"A group of girls were in the hallway at the time of Asuka's bathroom run," Zoe told them. "They were at their lockers at the time and once they had finished up, they went into the bathroom as well. All of the stalls were open and Asuka was no where in sight. The girls knew that they had seen her go in, but were positive that they hadn't seen her come out before they went inside. She's been reported as missing and hasn't been found."

They entered the school library, as they were allowed to go there during study periods. There were a few tables with students either reading, studying, or sleeping. Other students were online, many of them doing projects while others just screwed around playing games. The school librarian was nowhere to be found, though chances were that she had left to go for another coffee run.

Takuya and the other three took a seat at one of the tables, he and Zoe next to each other. One of their friends, J.P. Shibayama, had graduated the year before and was now a freshman in college. Tommy was a sophomore in high school, having skipped a grade two years ago. Yet he hardly had any classes with his older friends. Both had been informed about the three previous incidents, and J.P. was probably not aware of the fourth since he was no longer in the school district.

"If there _is_ a camera in the bathroom, why don't the school officials know what the hell happened to Asuka?" Kouji demanded.

"Either they're not telling anyone what happened or they don't know," Takuya replied after a moment.

Zoe groaned softly, resting her head on the table. "I don't know why they don't just close the school down temporarily. If students are in danger, then school officials should be worried about students' safety. I don't even want to go into the girls' bathroom alone anymore. The teachers have advised us to go with a friend for security purposes."

"The school can't be closed down because they need evidence that the students are in danger." Kouichi shifted in his seat. "So far, the first two girls' deaths were ruled as suicides. Asuka's disappearence is still undetermined. Until they find a threat that could be harmful to the students, or more specifically the girls, since only girls have been the victims, the school won't be shut down."

"But now that a fourth student has been found dead, I wonder what the verdict will be this time," Takuya mumbled.

A male student entered the library a moment later, his face pale and etched with depression. Takuya and the others immediately recognized him as Keita, Yukari Anno's boyfriend. Although they had not known Yukari very well, the twins were in Keita's History class. Giving them a weak nod, Keita settled down in an empty seat at a nearby table. His gaze quickly dropped so that he was looking down at his lap.

"Maybe we should ask Keita if Yukari had been acting strange the day that she died," Takuya suggested as he rose from his seat.

"No, don't do that," Zoe hissed as she grabbed the bottom of his shirt. "His girlfriend died only a week ago. You can't ask him stuff like that. Not now."

The brunette groaned. "But if we don't find out what's going on, how do we know that girls won't stop dying? I've never heard anything like this before."

Zoe remained silent for a moment, but released her friend a second later. "Okay, I'll go with you."

While the twins waited at the table, Takuya and Zoe made their way over to Keita. As they drew closer, they could see that he was looking at his cell phone, tears clouding his eyes. He seemed to be looking at pictures of himself and Yukari.

"Hey, Keita?" Takuya gently tapped the boy on the shoulder.

Keita jumped slightly, but calmed down once he realized who it was. "Oh, it's just you two. What's up?"

Takuya and Zoe took a seat at the table with him, unsure of how to get things rolling. Keita wiped his eyes with the back of sleeve, then sniffled a bit. With Yukari's death still fresh in his mind, he was still reeling from the heartbreak.

"We don't mean to upset you, but we wanted to ask you a few questions," Zoe said carefully. "Do you mind?"

"Well, what are the questions about?" Keita asked.

Takuya ran a hand through his chestnut hair. "These deaths that have been going on...they seem very strange, don't they?"

"Um, yeah. Of course they're strange. I've never heard of a chain of deaths like this before," Keita replied, his voice cracking a bit. "Is that what you wanted to ask me?"

"Actually, it's about Yukari," the brunette told him. "Uh...was Yukari acting out of the ordinary on the day that she died?"

Keita's eyes quickly darkened and his voice dropped into an angry growl. "What the fuck kind of question is that?"

"We're just trying to figure out what's going on," Zoe hurriedly told him. "No one knows what's happening in this school and Takuya and I want to find out. If this keeps up, more girls could end up dead. They just found a fourth victim in the girls' bathroom only minutes ago."

The teenage boy calmed down, and he let out a sigh. "Yeah, I heard about that on my way here. Yukari acted perfectly normal last Monday. I was at her locker with her and she agreed to meet me outside of school at the end of the day. She told me that she had aced a test, and was looking forward to her brother's wedding that weekend. I gave her a kiss before we parted ways and that was the last time I saw her..."

Keita choked up, and fresh tears welled up in his eyes. Zoe reached over and gave him a comforting hug, letting him get a bit of his grief out. He and Yukari had been dating for nearly two years, and they had seemed like one of the happiest couples in the school.

"Thanks, Keita. I'm sorry if we upset you," Takuya told him. "But we're just trying to get to the bottom of this."

"I-I understand," Keita stammered, them flashed Zoe a weak smile. "Thanks."

After a few moments, Takuya and Zoe began to head back to their own table, where the twins were sitting. To their surprise, a girl was seated there as well, an anxious look on her face. Upon hearing them return, Kouji turned to face them.

"This is Rei Hirano," he explained. "Kayako's best friend. We asked her over to talk to her about what's been going on."

"Hi." Rei seemed hesitant to say anything else as Takuya and Zoe settled back into their seats.

After a long pause, she let out a distressed sigh and buried her face in her hands. However, the others waited patiently as she finally mustered up the courage to speak. Finally, she looked back up at them, brushing a lock of copper-colored hair off her forehead.

"I want to tell you guys something...but you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else." She let out a quiet humorless laugh. "Hell, you'll probably think that I'm crazy..."

"At this point, we won't find anything to be crazy," Kouji told her. "Four girls either dead or missing within eight school days. _That's_ crazy, so whatever you have to tell us, we won't be that shocked."

Rei nodded solemnly, dropping her gaze to her clasped hands. "Well...last Thursday, on the day of Kayako's death, I was in the bathroom with her at the time."

The others stared at her in surprise, yet did not interrupt her to ask questions. There would be plenty of time for questions once she had finished.

"We ended up meeting in the hallway, both of us on the way to the bathroom. So obviously we went together. I went in one stall while she took a minute to check her hair. While I was inside the stall, I heard Kayako talking, though I couldn't hear who she was talking to," Rei told them.

"So she was out in the open at the time?" Kouichi asked. "Not in a stall?"

"No, not in a stall. I heard her say the most ridiculous thing, and I couldn't figure out why she said it at all." The girl glanced up at them quickly before dropping her gaze back down. "I heard her say 'Blue cloak'. A moment later, I heard her letting out a pained cry, though it only lasted a second. I tried to open the stall to see what was happening, but the door wouldn't open. Since this school is old and designed a certain way, I couldn't crawl out through the bottom or climb over the top. I was stuck in there for God knows how long..."

Zoe hadn't noticed that she had grabbed Takuya's hand under the table. "And what happened once you got out of the stall?"

"I was finally able to get the door open and I rushed out, panicking. As soon as I emerged, though, I saw Kayako hanging from the ceiling with a rope around her neck. Her face was blue and her eyes were bulging out of her head. A stool had been knocked over nearby and she was just swinging there." Rei let out a whimper as she remembered her friend's corpse. "I knew she was dead by then, and I couldn't reach the rope to free her anyway. So I ran out of the bathroom and got a teacher, telling him that I had walked into the bathroom and found her. No one would've believed me if I had told them what had really happened. They probably would've thought that I killed her myself."

"But you didn't kill her," Kouichi stated. "Did you?"

Rei shook her head vehemently, tears welling in her eyes. "Kayako and I have been friends since the third grade. Never in a million years would I have ever done something to her. Hell, even if we hated each other and weren't friends, I never would've hurt her."

"Was someone holding the door to your stall closed while someone else attacked Kayako?" Takuya asked. "Or was it just jammed?"

"You're really going to think I'm nuts for this, but I'll tell you anyway." Rei took a deep breath. "The door wasn't jammed, but instead felt as though someone were holding it closed to keep me inside. I ducked down to look through the small opening between the floor and the bottom of the door, but there wasn't anyone there. No shadows, no feet, nothing. It was almost like it was being closed by a supernatural force since there was no one standing there."

She abruptly rose, gathering her books and small shoulder bag off the floor. Rei shook her head in disbelief, looking as though she regretted telling them anything. Before the others could say anything, she hurriedly made one last request.

"Look, don't tell anyone what I just told you. They'll probably lock me away in an insane asylum or arrest me for Kayako's murder. So whatever you do, don't repeat what I've just told you. Please," she practically begged.

"We promise," Kouji said after a moment. "If we figure out what's going on around here, we'll tell you."

Rei nodded. "Remember...Kayako said 'Blue cloak', if that means anything."

With that, she rushed away from the table, disappearing behind a shelf of books on the other end of the library. Once she was out of sight, Takuya turned to face his friends.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not doubting what she said," he told them.

"I'm not either." Zoe had by now released the brunette's hand and had a faint blush on her face. "The deaths that have been happening are already peculiar. She looked too scared to be making any of this up."

Kouji frowned. "Yeah, but I don't know if I would go as far as saying that everything that has happened was caused by something supernatural."

"Really?" Kouichi raised an eyebrow. "Think about it, though. Four girls within eight days have gone into the girls' bathroom without coming back out. Two girls were found dead by suspected suicide. A third was never found and according to the school's blueprints, there are no windows, vents, or anything else where Asuka could've exited through. Everything other than the restroom entrance itself leads to a concrete wall."

"You know what's even weirder? The fact that each girl has met their demise two school days apart," Zoe revealed. "Yukari was found dead last Tuesday, and Kayako was found on Thursday, two days later."

Takuya's eyes narrowed as he realized the pattern as well. "Friday went without incident and there's no school over the weekend. But two school days after Kayako's death, Asuka disappeared on Monday. Two days later, which would be today, Wednesday, another girl was found dead."

"Something is definitely going on around here, and I don't think that it's just a chain of suicides." The blond smoothed her black skirt down. "Rei's account of everything makes it even stranger if what she says is true."

Other students were seated at other tables, most of them whispering amongst each other. It was obvious that nearly every conversation consisted of the most recent body found in the bathroom.

"Do any of these girls have something in common?" Kouichi asked, ignoring the hushed whispers. "I mean, are their deaths connected in any way?"

Without speaking, Zoe rose from her seat and made her way to one of the book shelves. The guys exchanged puzzled looks, but remained quiet as the girl made her way back over clutching a book in her hands.

"What's that?" Takuya inquired as she sat back down.

"Last year's yearbook," she replied, quickly opening it. "I wasn't sure what else to do, but maybe we can find some type of answer if we look at their pictures."

Kouji shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

He and Kouichi got up out of their seats and stood behind Takuya and Zoe to get a better looki inside the yearbook. Zoe flipped through the pages until she found Yukari Anno's school picture.

"This is probably a stupid idea," Zoe muttered. "I doubt we'll be able to find any similarities between the girls based on this."

"It's not stupid," Takuya said, stealing a glance at her. "None of us thought of any other ideas anyway."

Yukari had dark brown hair that cascaded down her back in waves, and turquoise eyes. Unable to find anything in particular, Zoe went to the picture of the second victim. Kayako Hayashida had shiny, curly blond hair and jade eyes. There seemed to be no similarities between her and Yukari, so Takuya took the liberty of finding Asuka Shimizu's yearbook picture. Asuka had jet black hair that was a few inches above her shoulders and onyx eyes.

"I didn't see anything in common about them." Kouji adjusted his bandana, although bandanas were not permitted in the school

"Only thing I could see is the fact that they were all really pretty," Kouichi speculated. "Not to come off as a creep or anything."

Zoe closed the book. "No, I agree with you; all three of them were extremely attractive. Do you think maybe that has something to do with their deaths?"

"Guys, maybe we're just looking into this a bit too much," Kouji said with a sigh. "Why can't we just accept the fact that these girls commited suicide and get on with our lives?"

Takuya glared at him. "Because if this chain of events keeps happening, how many more girls could end up the same way? For all we know, Zoe could be the next victim."

The blond paled and her eyes widened. "Uh...let's not go there."

"Oh, sorry." Takuya rubbed the back of his head, flashing her a sheepish grin. "I was just making a point."

"And he wanted to point out the fact that he thinks you're pretty," Kouichi teased.

Takuya and Zoe both turned red, with the brunette nervously trying to cover up the fact that Kouichi was right. However, before things got too awkward, Kouji had risen from his seat.

"Hey, where are you going?" Takuya asked as his raven-haired friend walked away.

Without replying, Kouji made his way over to the other end of the library where the laptops were kept. He signed online, vaguely aware of the others approaching him with curiosity.

"What are you doing?" Takuya asked again.

"Trying to find answers," Kouji mumbled as a search engine popped up on the screen. "I don't know if I'll be able to find anything, but it's worth a try."

After a few failed attempts to find anything useful, Zoe tapped him on the shoulder. "Mind if I try something?"

"Go for it." He got out of the seat and allowed Zoe to take his place.

Thinking to herself, the girl stared at the blank bar on the screen, trying to decide what exactly she should type in. After a moment, she finally settled on typing in 'blue cloak bathroom deaths'.

Takuya chuckled. "Zoe, I don't know what kinds of results you'll get from something like that."

Yet to everyone's surprise, a page of results popped up with the key words. Zoe clicked on the first one, casting back a playful glance to her friend.

"You were saying?" she quipped.

Kouichi snickered. "She got you."

"Shut up," Takuya muttered. "What does that page say?"

The long-haired twin snorted after reading a few sentences. "Zoe, you kind of picked something that sounds like it should belong in a horror movie."

"I know, but it fit in with the key words," Zoe replied. "Let's just give it a chance."

"The urban legend of Aka Manto?" Kouichi questioned, but shrugged nonetheless. "Eh, let's see what it says."

Takuya, leaning over Zoe's shoulder to see the screen, began to read the text aloud. "Aka Manto is a Japanese ghost who haunts the girls' bathroom. He appears wearing a red cloak and a white mask and is said to be so charming that girls are unable to resist him. Aka Manto roughly means either red cape or red cloak, and he is sometimes referred to Aoi Manto, which would refer the color blue."

"Jeez, I wish I could attract the girls like he can," Kouji quipped, only to receive a smack upside the head by his brother. "Ow...bastard..."

"Aka Manto hides in the last stall of the girls' bathroom and when you enter the bathroom, he steps out and asks, 'Which do you prefer, Red Cloak or Blue Cloak?' If you say 'Red', he slits your throat or chops off your head and blood flows down your back, making it look like you're wearing a red cloak. If you say 'Blue', he grabs you by the neck and chokes you until your face turns blue and you die of suffocation," Takuya continued. "Don't even think about asking for a third color or try to trick him by purposesly choosing a different color. If you do, the floor will open up beneath you and pale white hands will reach up and drag you down to Hell."

Kouji scoffed. "This is insane. What type of idiot wrote this? Some horror story fanatic with two much spare time on his hands?"

Ignoring his friend's comment, Takuya finished reading the article out loud. "Some people say that, years ago, Aka Manto was a young man who was so handsome that every girl immediately fell in love with him. He was so attractive, that girls would faint whenever he looked at them. It got to the point where he had to hide his face behind a white mask, which gave him a creepy appearance. At another point in time, he kidnapped a beautiful young girl and she was never seen again."

"As crazy as it sounds, it does sound somewhat believable if you really think about it," Zoe whispered after a moment.

She turned around to face the others, forgetting how close Takuya was. She came face-to-face with the brunette, her lips almost close enough to touch his. Turning bright red, Takuya quickly moved away, nearly falling on his ass. He hummed nervously, while Zoe blushed as well.

"How does this sound believable?" Kouji rolled his eyes. "This is just some crazy guy's imagination."

"Zoe's right, though," Kouichi shot back, keeping his voice hushed. "Yukari could've picked red, which is how her throat was slit. Kayako picked blue, which would explain her death. Asuka most likely would've picked a third color, therefore being dragged down to Hell and disappearing. And the fourth girl was covered in a bloody sheet, so that indicates that she could've picked the color red. Everything could've been staged to look like suicides, which would twart any attempt to close the school down."

"You three are on crack if you seriously believe this," his twin muttered.

Takuya threw him an annoyed look. "Well either way, I think we should still get to the bottom of this. I don't care if any of you join me in this, but tomorrow night I'm going to sneak into the school and find those videos that should've been taken from the girls' bathroom. This has gone far enough, especially when another girl's life could be at stake soon."

After a long pause, Zoe flashed him a smile. "I'll go with you. I want to find out as well, though it'll be tough to get inside."

"I'll find a way to do it," Takuya replied, then looked at the twins. "What about you two?"

"I'll go," Kouichi stated. "I don't want any more girls dying around here. If this keeps up, half the girls in the school will be dead by the end of the school year."

Groaning in contempt, Kouji mumbled his own reply. "Fine, whatever. I still think this is ridiculous, though..."

"Then it's settled." Takuya and his friends made their way back to their table, where they sat back down in their seats. "Tomorrow night, we'll sneak inside and get to the bottom of things. If it really is Aka Manto who's causing this chain of deaths, then we'll avoid his two-day cycle. Also, if he's supposed to be really good-looking, then it makes sense that he's targeting attractive girls."

After a mutual nod of agreement, the teacher who had broken up the spectacle in the corridor, Mr. Takano, entered the library looking pale. The librarian entered with him, obviously shaken up by the incident involving the newest victim. Mr. Takano gravely began to make his way over to one of the book shelves, where he began to browse the selection. He apparently was not teaching a class that period, and seemed to be trying to find a way to keep himself preoccupied. Takuya and the others rose from their seats, quietly approaching the teacher.

"Mr. Takano," Takuya said. "Do you know what happened in the girls' bathroom?"

"It's not my place to speak of what happened, Mr. Kanbara. I'm sorry, but until we find out more information, none of us teachers can tell you students anything," Mr. Takano replied grimly.

The man nervously tugged at his tie to loosen it, clearly uncomfortable about his position. Glancing around to make sure the other students weren't paying attention, Kouichi decided to ask the teacher one last question.

"Can you at least tell us the name of the student?" he inquired. "Please?"

His three friends stared at the man, their faces almost pleading with him to answer. Mr. Takano looked hesitant, but took a quick glance around the room as Kouichi had done.

"Don't tell anyone I told you this," he finally said in a hushed voice. "I could lose my job for this."

"We promise we won't," the four students told him unanimously.

Mr. Takano took a deep breath, then answered the sought-after question. "The victim was Narimi Shibayama."

With that, he hurried away from the teenagers, exiting the library. Takuya and the others stood there speechless for several long seconds, too shocked to say anything. The twins exchanged surprised looks, unable to muster up anything to say. Zoe let out a whimper of grief, burying her face in Takuya's chest, who put an arm around her in return. After a long pause, the brunette had finally found his voice.

"I can't believe the girl who just died was J.P.'s cousin," he murmured.

**And that wraps up the first half of my urban legend two-shot! I hope it doesn't suck too bad :p Sorry for the long chapter, but I didn't want to rush through anything too quickly or make it drag too bad. Please review to let me know what you think, and I'll try to finish the second half by Tuesday or Wednesday night. And for the record, the school uniforms look like the ones from Code Geass, though I've never even watched it before ^_^;**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, here is the second half of my urban legend story. I don't really have anything to say, so enjoy and please review if you can spare thirty seconds. If you spare the thirty seconds, I will send you a box of crayons and a new coloring book that I just designed. By the way, the box of crayons contains extra red and black ones for a few reasons...**

**Whispering Corridors**

**Chapter 2**

_Thursday night_

By now, J.P. had learned of his cousin's sudden, horrifying demise. He had found out about Narimi's death only hours after his friends had been told. Although he had never hung around with Narimi much, he still had felt a strong pain of loss. J.P. had not been informed by the others about their plan to sneak in the school at night, as they felt that he didn't need that weight on his shoulders. It was for the best that he didn't join anyway, as he and his family were going through a difficult time. Narimi's parents had demanded answers about her death, as had the parents of the other three victims. The school had been unable to provide any answers once again, leaving everyone in the dark about what was really going on. That was the main reason why Takuya, Zoe, Kouichi, and Kouji were so determined to find out themselves.

It was nearly eleven by the time Takuya had arrived at the school, clad in black jeans and a black sweatshirt. He waited impatiently for the other three to arrive, worried that they hadn't been able to sneak out of their houses. He had barely managed to leave, as he had been caught by Shinya as he climbed out of the window. Normally, Shinya would've ratted him out, unless Takuya provided him with some type of bribery. However, Takuya's brother allowed him to leave, even promising to cover for him should their parents wake up. Shinya wasn't sure what Takuya's reason for leaving had been, but with the grim look on his brother's face, he figured that it must've been important.

"Where are they?" Takuya looked around, hiding in the shadows. "At this rate, I'll have to go in by myself."

"Don't get your panties in a twist," Kouji remarked, suddenly emerging from the darkness.

The brunette jumped slightly, then rolled his eyes. "Jeez, don't fucking do that. And where the hell is Kouichi?"

"Right here," the short-haired twin said in a loud whisper. "I brought a few flashlights because I figured that we would need them. All we gotta do now is wait for Zoe."

After about five minutes, Zoe finally jogged up to meet her friends, completely out of breath. "Sorry I'm late. I had a bit of trouble sneaking out..."

Like the other three, she too had arrived dressed in all black, wearing jeans, a tank top, and a light jacket. By now, the sky was nearly pitch-black with the exception of an array of stars. Only a few streetlights remained lit, though they didn't provide much illumination. Cars rarely passed at this hour, though a police cruiser would drive by the high school on occasion.

"We better get inside before somebody sees us," Takuya said quietly. "Just let me pick this lock."

He pulled a few tools out of his pocket and began to work on the door at a brisk pace. He squinted in the darkness, wishing that he could use a flashlight to help him see. Yet he knew that doing so would give away their position and ruin everything they had planned. So he had no choice but to work without the aid of any light.

"What if this school has an alarm system?" Kouji suddenly asked after a moment. "If it goes off, we're fucked."

"This school doesn't have an alarm system," Zoe told him as she huddled next to Takuya. "The building is pretty old and the school officials never installed one."

Kouichi snorted. "They probably should at some point..."

Takuya heard a click and grinned. "Okay, it's unlocked. Hurry up and get inside."

He allowed his friends to enter before him, then rushed inside as fast as he could in fear that someone may spot them. The corridor was even darker than it was outside, only a tiny bit of light spilling through the windows.

"Great. How the fuck are we supposed to do this in the dark?" Kouji groaned. "I forgot to bring my special night-vision goggles along with the rest of my 'How to Break into a School' kit."

"All we gotta do is go down the rest of the main hallway and away from those windows," Zoe replied. "Then we can turn on our flashlights without fear of being seen."

Takuya smirked. "Hey, Zoe. You better grab my hand just in case. I don't want anyone to get separated."

"That's my hand you just grabbed, you dolt," Kouji growled.

"Ugh!" The brunette released Kouji's hand, hearing Kouichi and Zoe chuckling quietly. "Stop laughing at me!"

Stifling a laugh, Zoe cupped her hand over his mouth. "Stop shouting. We want to be as quiet as possible. You never know who might be in this building."

"I don't like the sound of that," Kouichi mumbled as he tugged at the neck of his sweatshirt. "Someone could just be lurking around the corner, waiting to jump at us with a knife."

"Someone's been watching too many horror movies," Kouji said with a snort. "Let's just go to wherever the hell those videos are and take a look at them. Speaking of which, where the fuck are we going?"

Takuya pulled Zoe's hand off his mouth and held it in his own hand. "I think that they might be in either the main office or the principal's office. They're probably locked away somewhere, but I know that we'll find them."

"I hope so," Zoe said wistfully as Takuya pulled her along. "I want to find out what's going on around here. Even if we weren't sure about the other three girls, we all know that Narimi couldn't have killed herself."

"Her head had nearly been cut off to the point of decapitation." Kouichi shuddered. "The teachers found a bloody box cutter nearby, but there's no way in hell she would've gouged her throat like that. The murder weapon would've had to have been sharper for a cut as clean as hers. If she had done it herself, there would've been a sawing motion and everything for a cut that deep."

Kouji smirked. "Aren't you just the little forensic scientist."

"That's for bones, not bodies," Kouichi countered. "I think..."

The four of them continued their way down the corridor, finally getting to a point where it would be safe to shine their flashlights. The school was ominously quiet, making them feel uneasy. Although they had expected for the building to be deserted, they hadn't expected for the hair to stand up on the backs of their necks.

"This place is fucking creepy at night," Takuya muttered as he shone his light down the dreary hallway.

"I know. I would've figured it to be creepier during the day when all of the teachers are lurking around," Kouji remarked with a smirk.

Kouichi snorted. "They're not creepy; just annoying."

"No, some _are_ creepy," Zoe interjected flatly. "Trust me."

The walk towards the principal's office seemed to take an eternity, though in all reality they were only about another minute away from their destination.

"Takuya?" Zoe squeezed his hand a bit tighter. "Do you think that there really is an Aka Manto?"

The brunette remained silent for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "Honestly...as crazy as it sounds, it does sound possible. I'm not the type who usually believes in the supernatural shit, but everything makes more sense if we do suspect that it is the ghost who's causing everything."

"You guys are insane," Kouji muttered. "Yukari slashed her own throat with a scalpel. Kayako hanged herself. Asuka ran off somewhere while no one was paying attention. And Narimi-"

"Narimi what?" Kouichi rudely interrupted, his sapphire eyes dark. "Narimi nearly decapitated herself with a fucking boxcutter? Listen to yourself, Kouji. Aka Manto _does_ sound crazy. But this chain of deaths and the disappearance is even crazier. If you truly believe that these girls killed themselves, then say it right now."

His twin rolled his eyes. "Look...I don't wanna say that I really do think that the girls killed themselves. But it's hard for me to think that a ghost killed them. Maybe some other student just killed all four of them and-"

"No fingerprints, Kouji," Takuya said, cutting him off. "And don't give me that whole 'they were probably wearing gloves' bullshit. If a student had been behind it, they would've caught it on tape. And so far, no one has been arrested for these deaths."

"I don't know then! We'll find out when we watch the tapes, okay?" Kouji huffed and crossed his arms just as they reached the principal's office.

Just as he done with the main door, Takuya picked at the lock, having an easier time with the aid of a flashlight. Seconds later, there was an audible click and the door unlocked.

"Okay, start looking around the principal's shit to find the tapes. There's a television set in the corner of the room, so the tapes might be stashed in here somewhere." Takuya led them inside and immediately began to go through the desk drawers. "Try not to break anything or fuck his stuff up."

His three friends searched through whatever they could find, though there were only so many places where the videos could've been kept. While Kouji searched through a file cabinet, Kouichi looked through a closet. As Zoe assisted Takuya with the desk, she noticed something shiny as his shirt lifted up a bit.

"Takuya, what's that?" she asked, pointing to his waist.

"What?" Takuya reached down, quickly realizing what she had been referring to. "Oh, this? I uh...I stole my father's handgun and brought it with me."

While Zoe's emerald eyes widened in shock, Kouji facepalmed. "Dude, why the fuck did you bring that?"

"You never know who or what could be in this school," Kouichi said, answering for Takuya. "I think he brought it for protection purposes."

"Yeah, I didn't want to take any chances just in case." Takuya adjusted it to keep it from falling out of his belt. "I only wish that I could've brought each of you one."

"We're good," they replied unanimously.

After another minute or so of searching, Kouichi let out an excited gasp. "I found them! I found the tapes in the back of the closet."

He pulled out a small box, which contained two separate VHS tapes. Takuya picked them up, gingerly turning them in his hands as he looked for labels. There were none, but he didn't think it made a difference.

"They installed the camera after the first two deaths, so we won't know what happened to Yukari or Kayako," he said. "But we should be able to find out what happened to Asuka and Narimi."

Kouji switched on the television set while Takuya popped one of the tapes into the VCR to play it. It took quite a bit of time to fastforward it enough, as they had to check each time where a single girl entered the bathroom instead of in a group or with a friend. However, finally, they pinpointed the tape where a lone girl had entered the bathroom.

"It's Asuka," Zoe said after a second. "It's a bit blurry, but I can recognize her well enough."

"Let's see what happens..." Takuya's voice trailed off as they watched.

Asuka stood in front of the bathroom mirror, fixing her dark hair to make it neater. She suddenly looked to her right, where the stalls were located. Slowly, she began to approach them, stopping near the very last stall in the bathroom. However, just then, the screen turned fuzzy.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Takuya scowled as the tape became impossible to see. "Shit, now what?"

Kouji sighed. "Great...the tape fucking broke on us. We better take the fucking thing out and watch the other one."

"Wait a second, it's clearing up," Kouichi murmured.

The fuzziness on the screen soon dimished, leaving it clear once again. Unfortunately, Asuka was nowhere to be seen in the bathroom. With an aggravated groan, Takuya fastforwarded through the tape a bit, hoping to see Asuka somewhere.

"It's no use," Zoe said quietly as she nervously grabbed his arm. "All of the stalls are open and we can see inside each one except for the last one because of the camera angle."

"The one that she went up to..." Kouji speculated. "You don't think she's in there, do you?"

After a bit more fastforwarding, more girls began to enter the bathroom and stalls, confirming that Asuka was no longer in the restroom.

"Dammit," Kouichi grumbled as he ejected the tape. "The stupid thing had to fuck up at the most crucial part..."

"Something's not right." Takuya put the second tape in, the one that would contain Narimi's incident. "I doubt that the other three tapes from the other days were kept. You know, the one that happened a day before Asuka's disappearance, the day after, and today's, which would be the useless ones. I'm guessing that this one has Narimi's death."

This time, Kouji did the fastforwarding, taking quite a few minutes to find what they were looking for. Yet they eventually found the part where Narimi had entered the restroom. Unlike Asuka, she had brought along her purse and one of her books. Narimi didn't stop at the sink to check her hair, but instead went directly to the first stall. Yet before she had stepped inside, her head abruptly turned to the right.

"Just like Yukari," Takuya mumbled.

Narimi set her stuff down on the floor and began to walk over to the last stall of the bathroom before, once again, the screen suddenly went fuzzy with static.

"Shit," Kouichi cursed. "The same thing happened twice. The entire videos have been clear except for the most important parts. I'm guessing that the school officials had seen the same thing and that was the reason why they couldn't tell the victims' parents what had happened to their daughters. They don't know."

"We'll just have to wait for it to clear up," Kouji said, though he looked pale with anxiety.

After several nerve-wracking seconds, the picture began to revert back to normal. Once it had cleared up enough, the four of them could see Narimi's body sprawled in a pool of blood. A boxcutter lay nearby in a separate puddle, and the severity of Narimi's neck wound was obvious by the deep slash. Whimpering with revulsion, Zoe buried her face in Takuya's chest, unable to look at the video anymore. Kouichi quickly turned it off and ejected the tape, putting it back in the closet along with the other one.

"It's a good thing we didn't bring J.P. along." He looked sick to his stomach. "He probably would've fainted seeing his cousin like that..."

Takuya stroked Zoe's blond hair as she trembled against him, feeling the warmth of her body against his. "After witnessing that, I'm not gonna lie. I think it really could be Aka Manto. And don't give me any smartass comments, Kouji."

"You won't be hearing any smartass comments from me," Kouji said dryly. "I'm beginning to think the same thing as you guys...I don't think the girls killed themselves."

"We've finally convinced the skeptic," his brother teased.

Kouji cocked an eyebrow. "You didn't convince me; that fucking tapes did."

"Anyway, since we couldn't find any actual proof, what should we do now?" Kouichi questioned as he began to straighten a few things up.

"You three are probably gonna think I'm crazy but..." Takuya hesitated for a moment. "I think we should go into the girls' bathroom and look around for any clues."

Zoe quickly pulled herself out of his arms. "What? Why?"

"I'm with Zoe on this one," Kouji added. "The police already found all of the clues that could've been found. Besides, what do we look like? The Scooby Doo Detective Agency?"

"They're actually called Mystery Inc..." Kouichi flashed him a slightly embarrassed smirk.

"Whatever! Either way, going into the girls' bathroom is a stupid idea!" the bandana-wearing twin scoffed.

Takuya sighed. "Why is it stupid? It's our last hope of finding out anything at all. If we don't make an attempt to figure out the what fuck is happening, then consider the rest of the girls in the school dead."

While Kouichi and Zoe pondered the thought, Kouji let out an exasperated groan. "Dammit, Kanbara..."

"I'll look in the bathroom," Zoe said softly. "But we have to go in together. None of us will go in alone."

Takuya and Kouichi nodded mutually, while Kouji continued to debate with himself. His face was furrowed into a frown and his gaze was directed at the floor.

"You're not scared, are you?" Kouichi asked, though it was not condescending. "I'm a bit scared myself."

"Let's just go," his brother grumbled, not wanting to admit that he felt the same. "Get this shit over and done with..."

The four of them left the principal's office once everything had been put back in order. They stepped back out into the dark corridor, Takuya taking a moment to relock the door using his tools. He checked it a minute later to see if he had succeeded in doing so.

"Okay, it's locked. Let's get to the bathroom now and see what we can find," he said in a grave voice.

Walking in silence, he and the others made their way down the hallway, using their flashlights to light the way. After taking a few turns in the building, they finally came to the corridor that led to the restrooms. Each of them held their breath as they passed the boys' bathroom, dreading the room located right next to it. The restrooms had a single switch outside each one, which would turn on the lights. Kouichi flicked on the light to the girls' bathroom before they opened the wooden door that would lead them right inside.

"You guys ready?" Takuya asked, trying to mask the anxiety in his voice.

His friends nodded wordlessly, all three of them with fear written on their faces. The brunette reached out and gingerly grabbed hold of the handle on the door, before slowly pulling it.

Pausing outside the lit restroom, he exchanged glances with everyone before stepping inside. Zoe followed him, her green eyes nervously scanning their surroundings. Kouichi went in after Zoe, followed by Kouji, whom let the door close behind them.

"Let's just make this fast, okay? I don't wanna stick around in the fucking girls' room," he muttered.

"Shit, that camera will record what we're doing." Kouichi cursed under his breath.

Takuya glanced at the camera carelessly. "Don't worry about it. We'll take the little tape out before we leave so that no one finds out about this. Now just start looking around to see if you can find anything."

"Like what?" Kouji scoffed, though he began to search the room nonetheless.

"Maybe murder weapons...suicide notes if the girls actually did commit suicide..." Zoe looked under the sinks. "Just anything that would be out of place or suspicious in any way."

It didn't take long to search the restroom, as there weren't many places to look. From what the four of them had seen, there had been nothing out of the ordinary. No strange notes or writing in the stalls. No leftover bloodstains. No items that could've been used in the girls' murders. Nothing.

"Shit, now what?" Kouichi sighed, burying his face in his hands.

"I...I don't know..." Takuya's voice trailed off. "We couldn't find anything on the tapes or even in the fucking bathroom. I don't know what else to do."

"The deaths were two days apart," Zoe mused. "The girls were all pretty. There were no indications that any of them had contemplated on committing suicide. Asuka came in but never came out..."

Kouji let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, Narimi was found dead on Wednesday, which was yesterday. And since we have school on Friday, that means that there will probably be another death on that day if the pattern repeats."

Kouichi's head suddenly snapped up. "Friday...Oh, shit..."

The others looked at him, puzzled by his abrupt change of mood. He stared at them, his face suddenly growing pale as he made a realization.

"What's wrong?" Takuya asked. "What about Friday?"

"What time is it?" Kouichi demanded, his voice stern. "What fucking time is it?"

"Um..." Takuya fumbled to get his cell phone out of his pocket, finally succeeding in doing so. "It's uh...five after midnight."

Kouji raised an eyebrow as he stared at his brother. "What's the matter with you?"

"Guys! It's after midnight!" the short-haired twin exclaimed. "We came here on Thursday night. But the next day starts once the hour strikes midnight."

Zoe's eyes widened as she discovered what he was getting at. "Oh, god... It's Friday..."

"Shit! I didn't even think about that," Takuya hissed. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Just as they began to rush over to the exit, Takuya, Kouji, and Kouichi were suddenly thrust into the wall by an unseen force. Zoe screamed in terror, attempting to rush to their aid. Yet, for some reason, she was frozen in her spot, unable to move.

"Fuck! What the hell just happened?" Kouji demanded as he rubbed his sore head.

"I think I might know," Takuya replied in a grim voice as he tried to heave himself up. "Those girls didn't kill themselves... Asuka didn't just disappear..."

Before he could say anything else, he and the twins were thrown a second time. However, this time, each of them landed in one of the four stalls, the last one remaining empty. The doors to the stalls were shut by the same invisible force, locking them inside.

"Hey! Get us outta here!" Kouichi exclaimed as he pounded on his door. "Zoe! Get us out!"

However, the blond remained glued in place, feeling an eerie chill rush through her bones. As she exhaled, she could see her breath in a cold mist as the temperature began to drop. She willed herself to move forward to come to her friends' aid as they continued to call for her help. Yet she couldn't even utter a single word or move as her eyes stared at the last stall fearfully.

"Zoe! Are you okay?" Takuya cried out, kicking his door as hard as he could. "Zoe!"

The door to the fourth stall was open, though Zoe couldn't see inside from her angle. A second later, much to her fright and disbelievement, an ominous figure in a red hooded cloak emerged. The figure was covered completely in the crimson attire, not even his hands showing in the long sleeves. His face was concealed with a white mask that had been made to look similar to that of a normal human's. Yet it gave him a frightening appearance, reminding Zoe that he, in fact, was no mere human. Not even his eyes were visible, as the mask covered those as well. He began to approach the frozen girl, who stared at him in terror, her heartrate quickening.

"Zoe! What's going on out there?" Takuya yelled as he tried to knock the stall door down. "Fucking thing!"

"What the fuck is happening?" Kouji angrily demanded. "Why won't these stupid doors open?"

The cloaked figure stopped in front of Zoe, only about two feet away from her. "Which do you prefer, Red Cloak or Blue Cloak?"

_Oh, shit! Don't answer! _she screamed to herself, panicking. _Don't fucking answer!_

Upon hearing the question, her friends began to yell even louder for her as they pummeled the sealed doors. "Zoe!"

The blond felt herself growing light-headed, and couldn't keep herself from uttering a murmured answer. "Blue Cloak..."

Although she couldn't see it, she felt as though the cloaked man were smiling sadistacally through his mask. A moment later, his arm suddenly thrusted out, his hand going up to her neck. He forcefully grabbed her around the throat, lifting her off the floor and against the wall. Zoe tried to pry his grip off her, feeling her oxygen rapidly depleting to nothing.

Takuya peeked out from under the small crack between the bottom of the door and the floor, trying to see what was going on. To his horror, he saw the bottom of the crimson cloak, as well as Zoe's legs attempting to kick at the cloaked man. He heard a strangled cry coming from her, realizing that she was being choked.

"Zoe! Dammit, let go of her, you fucking bastard!" he shouted, trying to knock the door down frantically.

"Dude, what the hell is going on?" Kouichi asked.

"She's being strangled, that's what's going on!" Takuya slammed him shoulder into the door again. "If we don't get out there, she'll be dead!"

Kouji cursed, trying to knock his own door down as well. "Who's strangling her?"

"Take a wild fucking guess!" The brunette suddenly remembered that he had the gun, and grabbed it out of his belt. "I hope this works..."

Yet just as he was about to fire it through the wooden door, he realized that it would probably have no effect. The door was being held shut by a supernatural force, so even if he shot a few bullets at it, it would still remained closed. And with a simple handgun, it would leave only a few holes in it before running out of bullets. He then got an idea and crouched down on the floor, aiming his gun out between the bottom of the door and the floor.

Meanwhile, Zoe grew weaker with each passing second, feeling her throat being nearly crushed by the force of the choke. She gave a final futile kick, hoping for him to release her. Instead, she closed her eyes as darkness began to overtake her. A moment later, she heard a deafening sound, then felt herself dropping to the floor.

Takuya had fired at the cloaked figure, which had caused him to release his hold on Zoe. The brunette then got off the floor and pushed at the stall door, this time discovering it that it could be opened. He emerged out of the stall, just as Kouichi and Kouji stepped out of theirs. Zoe was sprawled on the floor, unmoving, while her attacker stood over her, his masked face concealing his features.

"It really is Aka Manto," Kouichi murmured, his sapphire eyes wide.

"Quick! Shoot him!" Kouji yelled to Takuya.

His friend quickly obeyed, firing the gun a second time, this time hitting the masked figure in the face. Takuya half expected Aka Manto to disappear or for the bullet to go right through. Yet to his surprise, the bullet penetrated the white mask near the left eye, which caused a a bloody river to leak out of the hole. However, Aka Manto still seemed unfazed as the blood dripped down, trickling onto the floor. A long blade emerged from one of his sleeves, clutched in his pale hand.

"Shoot him again!" Kouichi shouted frantically.

With his hands shaking, Takuya fired a third time, this time hitting the cloaked man in the forehead. Another trickle of blood drizzled down his mask, streaking it crimson. The walls began to seep blood as well, much to everyone's horror.

"What the fuck is going on?" Kouji demaned. "This is fucking insane. Just keep shooting the bastard!"

With three bullets left in the chamber, Takuya fired them simultaneously at Aka Manto, leaving behind three more bullet wounds. A low chuckle was heard as the blood continued to run down both the apparition and the walls, leaving behind scarlett puddles.

"This keeps getting better and better. Now what do we do?" Kouichi asked.

The cloaked man took a step towards the teenage boys, his dagger poised as if he were going to slash at them. He swung it at Kouji, who ducked out of the way, evading decapitation by mere centimeters.

"Shit!" Kouji dashed away from him.

He, Takuya, and Kouji were then slammed into a wall once again by the unseen force, landing on the floor near Zoe. Takuya grabbed onto her, holding her close to his body.

"Dammit! How do you kill a ghost?" he exclaimed.

"Gee, I don't know! I forgot to bring my 'How to Kill Ghosts' survival guide!" the long-haired twin snarled."I forgot many things tonight!"

While the ghost slowly approached them, his blade gleaming, Takuya looked around feverishly. He noticed something hanging out of the pocket of Kouichi's jeans and grabbed it.

"Hey!" Kouichi cried out, more surprised than angry. "What are you doing?"

Takuya gazed at the tiny glass bottle, his face lighting up. "I've got it!"

He hurled it right at the cloaked man, causing the glass to shatter and splash him with the contained liquid. Digging through his own pocket, Takuya extracted a lighter and released his hold on Zoe. He then scrambled to his feet, hurling himself at Aka Manto.

"Takuya, you idiot!" Kouji yelled.

Aka Manto swung his blade at the brunette, managing only a small slice on Takuya's shoulder. At the same time, Takuya flicked his lighter on and held it up against the masked figure, immediately setting his damp cloak ablaze. A high-pitched wail filled everyone's ears as the fire quickly spread over his entire body.

"Time to go!" Takuya dashed over to his friends, gathering Zoe's limp body in his arms.

"Eh, what the hell?" Kouji muttered as they sprinted over to the door.

Kouichi yanked it open, allowing the others to exit as he glanced back at the bloody ghost. Aka Manto was engulfed by the flames, his white mask beginning to char. Smoke spread through the room, and the video camera came crashing down on the floor, shattering its lens and damaging the tape inside. Kouichi followed Takuya and Kouji out of the bathroom, running down the hallway with them as the screeches began to die down.

"Outta the building!" Takuya ran as fast as he could with the blond in his arms. "The smoke alarms will go off and the police will come, so let's go! Don't worry about relocking it!"

They dashed out of the school just as the alarms sounded, slinking away into the nearby woods. Once they had traveled a safe enough distance, Takuya set Zoe down on the ground.

"Zoe! Are you okay?" he asked anxiously, shaking her shoulders. "Zoe!"

"Is she dead?" Kouichi asked.

Kouji groaned. "We should've checked her while we were in the school."

"Um, we kind of didn't have time to that since that bastard was trying to kill us!" Takuya angrily shot back, then turned his attention back to Zoe. "Zoe! Please wake up. Don't leave me alone to deal with these idiots..."

"Hey!" the twins retorted, insulted by his remark.

Zoe moaned, feeling someone shaking her awake. Her neck had begun to bruise from the masked man's grip, and her throat was sore from the pressure. Opening her eyes, she saw her three friends hovering her over, Takuya being the closest.

"Are you okay?" he asked, clearly relieved as he lifted her head up.

"Ugh...what happened?" Zoe asked, slowly regaining her wits. "I can't remember anything after he dropped me..."

As sirens were heard in the distance, Kouichi let out a low chuckle. "We're pretty sure that he's gone. Takuya, being the pyromaniac that he is, set the fucker on fire."

"Really?" The girl allowed Takuya to help her sit up, then leaned up against his chest. "How did you manage that one?"

"Yeah, I wanna know the same thing," Kouji said, looking at Takuya and his brother suspiciously. "How did you set him on fire like that? What the hell was in that little bottle?"

Takuya smirked. "Ask your brother."

Kouichi smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I uh...wanted a little drink in case things got too weird. But I forgot that I had it..."

"What?" Kouji facepalmed. "You brought a nip?"

"Hey, in all fairness, I forgot that I had it," Kouichi retaliated. "I just grabbed one out of Dad's stash and brought it with me..."

The brunette sighed, hugging Zoe close to him. "Good thing you did. We probably wouldn't have gotten away if hadn't brought it."

"Well, it's a good thing that my brother's an alcoholic," Kouji grumbled dryly. "Now I think we should all go home now. I don't know about you, but if we have school in the morning, I need my beauty sleep."

"Then you're never gonna wake up," Kouichi teased.

The bandana-wearing teen huffed. "You look just like me, Idiot!"

As the twins bickered amongst each other, Takuya helped Zoe to a standing position. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Um, yeah. I'll be fine," she replied, flashing him a small smile. "Crazy night, huh?"

"That's an understatement." Takuya brushed his thumb against her cheek, gazing into her eyes. "I was afraid he was going to kill you..."

Zoe shrugged. "He almost did...but luck was on our side. And the fact that you brought a gun helped out a bit."

She leaned up and planted a soft kiss on his lips, turning a bit red as she did so. Takuya embraced her, hugging her tightly against his chest as he stroked her long locks. He kissed her back for several seconds, ignoring the fueding twins in the background.

"I'll walk you home, okay?" He then wrapped an arm around her waist and led her through a path in the woods that would lead them back out onto the street. "Hopefully that chain of deaths has come to an end."

The brothers walked ahead of them, still arguing who was the better-looking twin. As Takuya and Zoe followed them, the blond rested her head against his shoulder.

"Do you really think that he's dead?" she asked.

"I think so," he said after a long pause. "We'll find out within a few days, I guess. But by the way he was shrieking, it didn't sound like he was in very good condition. That fire probably killed him."

"Yeah, I guess so..."

_Meanwhile_

The fire department had rushed over to the high school after getting a call about the fire alarm going off. While the police searched the grounds surrounding the building, the firefighters had entered the building. The bathroom was filled with smoke, but there was no fire that had remained. The walls, floor, and ceiling were coated with a bit of ash, yet any bloodstains from earlier had disappeared.

"Something must've caused all this smoke," one of the firefighters speculated. "We better check the building and look for any hazards."

As he led the others out of the bathroom and into the hallway, one woman stayed behind upon spotting something in the corner of the room. Frowning, she approached the object, discovering it to be a charred white mask that had gone unnoticed by everyone else. The mask also had two bloody holes in it, one near the left eye and one on the forehead.

"What the hell?" she muttered, gazing down at it.

She bent over and picked it up, slowly turning it in her hands. Suddenly, she heard a deep, seductive voice coming from behind her, the voice asking her a strange question.

"Which do you prefer, Red Cloak or Blue Cloak?"

**And that is the end of my urban legend two-shot. I hope it didn't suck too much, though I probably could've made it longer. But I didn't want to! As for the ending, I got sick and tired of all the happy endings I've been doing and decided to go that route instead. Now there's a bit of mystery and the chain of deaths might continue! Who should we call to fix this problem?**

***The ghostbusters run through the door* Where's the ghost? We'll get him off your hands!**

**Me: Last stall of the girls' bathroom. Careful, he has a sharp object and supernatural abilities. He also can not die from fire by the looks of it. *looks back at readers* But I didn't kill Zoe off, so people should be happy about that...I've been sparing lives too much, and that'll have to change eventually... ****Anyway, please review and let me know if you actually did like it. I will begin chapter 5 of "Deranged Crack Tales" as soon as I get the chance, so expect it out within a few days.**


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